This disclosure relates to sensor calibration methods for providing robust cross-process registration measurement, and more specifically relates to calibrating individual sensors to ensure a more robust cross-process registration of print heads in a color printing system.
Most printing systems now have the ability to calibrate print head positions to determine the proper alignment of each print head. In a typical print head calibration system, a test pattern is printed and an image-reading sensor reads the pattern and analyzes the response. The test pattern can consist of a series of dashes or printed out bars and the sensors can be any type of image-reading sensor. After the system reads in the test pattern, the system analyzes the pattern to determine if a print head is misaligned based upon the position of the printed pixel compared to the ideal position that the pixel should have been printed at.
In certain solid ink architecture printing systems, full width array image sensors are used, for example, to register a population of print heads in a color printing system. The full width array image sensors are comprised of a series of chips butted together to form the required process width of a given image. These sensors determine the average position of each print head.